


Anniversary Expedition

by sniperct



Series: Artifacts [7]
Category: Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Anniversary, Established Relationship, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27690128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sniperct/pseuds/sniperct
Summary: For their wedding anniversary, Lara and Sam return to Costa Rica, where their relationship began. Sam is pretty proud of herself; she can still make Lara blush even after all these years.
Relationships: Lara Croft/Samantha Nishimura
Series: Artifacts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/62876
Comments: 15
Kudos: 41





	Anniversary Expedition

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 200th fic on AO3, so I figured, why not go back to the very beginning ;)

“Leave it to us, sweetie,” I say, peering through the viewfinder of my camera. “To spend our wedding anniversary in the middle of _nowhere_.”

I can tell Lara is smiling as she rubs a spot on her shoulder and I take a picture of the spectacular view that's stretching out before us. Miles of canopy and wilderness, the nearest piece of modern civilization days away and the nearest indigenous people, the Cabécar, about as distant. 

Of course, there was civilization here, somewhere. Ancient ruins and relics just waiting to be discovered, with so many lost stories to tell. Places that had once been civilization before time had claimed them. It was catnip for Lara and even for myself. That's probably Lara’s favorite part, actually. What stories these places tell. 

Lara chuckles, “Make sure you record everything.”

“I always do.” I smile, lowering my camera and glancing back at her. Here in this light with the wind rustling her hair, my wife has never looked so beautiful. And I’ve seen some of her cocktail dresses and the way they look coming off her her body.

“Do you remember the last time we were in Costa Rica?” She asks, stepping up to stand next to me and peer down into the forest below.

“Oh yeah.” Even though she’s not looking directly at me, I’m sure she can hear the grin in my voice, “Lots of firsts on that trip. First kiss, first artifact, first time with my face between your legs.”

Even all these years later and I can still make her blush. Score.

Her reply is a little faint, “Ah yes, the important things.”

That expedition had been the start of everything, even if now I sometimes feel like we’ve lost contact with the women we’d been back then. Our first reckoning had been on Yamatai, but our second? Had started with Costa Rica and then stretched across the world from Peru to Italy to China.

I’ve seen too much death since then and we’d also dealt it out; Lara so much more than me. Many were justified, but there’d been innocents caught in the middle, too. I can see her spiraling a little, so I nudge her out of her thoughts.

“So what’s the plan today, sweetie?”

Lara’s eyes are focused on something far below, then she seems to snap out of it and look at me, “I have a lead on an ancient village.”

“Anything supernatural or are we in for some mundane? And please tell me it’s mundane, I’d be so happy if it’s mundane and not some kind of apocalyptic death cult or something again.”

“Mundane. Even the rumors I’ve heard don’t talk all that much about anything of a supernatural nature. No soulbound artifacts on this trip.”

I can’t tell if she’s relieved or not. I know Lara thrives on excitement, but I can also tell how tired she’s been these days. But I’ve had my fill of soul-sucking artifacts, so they won’t be missed.

Still watching her, I pull out one of our maps and take a look at it, “Okay, so you’ve marked a couple of dig sites, but we’ve still got aways to go before we reach the first one. We might need to camp here and then make the final descent tomorrow morning.”

“That sounds best,” Lara agrees.

I reach for her hand as we step away from the cliff’s edge, but then my footing gives way and I’m falling. Not for the first time, my life flashes before my eyes and not for the first time I’m intensely proud and happy for what I’ve built. 

But then Lara’s got me, the muscles of her arms straining as she holds onto a root sticking out of the mountainside, her other hand clasped tightly around my forearm. I’ve got a momentary sense of deja vu before she hauls me back up. I take the chance to cling to her and not just because I can grope those sexy, sexy arms, “Okay nearly falling off a cliff _not_ one of the firsts I wanted to relive on this trip.” Except for the arm bulging, I can watch the arm bulging all day.

Lara says nothing, instead carrying me for a few yards to where I’d left my pack to go take pictures. She sets me down, peering at me with this worried expression on her face that breaks my heart. I take her hands and squeeze them, “I’m okay! I’m really okay.”

We have an agreement, Lara and I. An agreement that when we take these kinds of trips and expeditions together, I pull my own weight, but she also has to _trust_ me. To take care of myself, to take care of _her_. It’s something I take very seriously. More seriously than clubbing. More seriously than my _camera_. Lara is a part of me, my soul-mate. Our love is like, written in the stars or something.

There’s that quote about a billion worlds and always finding each other. That’s me and Lara, now and forever.

“Have you ever wondered?” Lara asks, exhaling slowly, her shoulders sagging, “What might have been if we’d never wrecked on Yamatai?”

“Yes.” Silly question. Of course I wonder, I still get nightmares, “And despite the scars, physical and not, despite all the pain and suffering I’ve been through, I wouldn’t change it. Even getting fucking _possessed_.”

She tilts her head curiously, so I continue, “Lara sweetie, I have you. I have the most wonderful and caring and considerate wife a woman could hope to ask ask for. We’ve built a family. Soraya and Dolma and Leda. It’s like, several cats, two lesbians, two bisexuals and one of the lesbian’s half-sister. And a butler that I’m pretty sure used to be MI-6. Weird family, but totally ours.” Never planned on it, but things just _kind_ of worked out that way.

Lara laughs. I see her shadows lifting, which is really nice. I think after this trip, though, that she needs a nice vacation. Just the two of us, a nice private beach somewhere and absolutely _no_ tombs.

“You’re plotting something, love.” Lara’s eyes sparkle.

“Just thinking about how much I love you. And how good you’re gonna look in a bikini,” I tell her, picking up my pack and swinging it over my shoulders. “Now let's go find that campsite I marked, there’s at least one _other_ first I want to do again and I packed the big tent.”

I get her to blush again, and all is right with the world.


End file.
